2017–18 NBA Standings and Playoff Predictions

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The Unprofessionals

8 min readOct 17, 2017

The time has finally come! After a long and absurdly fantastic offseason, the NBA is back, as the preseason has begun and the regular season is less than two weeks away.

This means it’s also time for some predictions. Who will win the MVP? Who will be the biggest threat to the Warriors? Which teams will miss the playoffs? How much of an embarrassment will the Knicks be? These are all questions that need to be answered before the season gets going, so let’s do it.

Eastern Conference Playoff Teams

#1. Boston Celtics

The Celtics owned the East’s best record last season, and made many drastic changes, only bringing back four players from that team. But, their strengths and weaknesses remain: they can move the ball and score it well, but their defense inside and rebounding need a lot of help. Despite all of the turnover, it’s likely that they will win roughly the same amount of games. The same can’t be said, though, for their biggest competition for the top seed in the East…

#2. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers came into the offseason with two things they needed to achieve:

a) get shooters around LeBron James

b) prepare for his inevitable departure

So, how did they do?

a) they signed Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, and Jeff Green in Free Agency

b) they traded their 25-year old superstar for a 28-year old with an apparently chronic hip injury, whose impactfulness is entirely reliant on his ability to absorb contact and take a physical punishment

Not so good! The Cavaliers will likely end up in the NBA Finals because they have LeBron James on their team, but this is an extremely poorly constructed roster.

#3: Washington Wizards

The Wizards are now seemingly locked into the trio of John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter, Jr. While that likely means they won’t contend for a championship any time soon, they will be a very good team for a long time. This team took the Celtics to seven games last season, and could be fully capable of doing so again, especially if John Wall goes from a star to an All-Star.

#4: Toronto Raptors

For the Raptors, it’s the same story every season: lots of regular season wins, followed by disappointing performances from Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan resulting in early playoff exits. This year should be no different- the only change made to this roster is the replacement of DeMarre Carroll with CJ Miles. And while that is a significant upgrade offensively, it certainly doesn’t make them good enough to be a legitimate competitor against the Cavaliers or Celtics.

#5: Milwaukee Bucks

Despite having almost no roster change at all, the Bucks are still going to improve, and it’s because of one person: Giannis Antetokounmpo. He will continue his rapid progression into superstardom this year, which very may well lead to a push for the MVP Award. He is going to carry this team to success, and at least one playoff series victory.

#6: Miami Heat

When they struck out on Gordon Hayward, Miami decided to spend a lot of money on a lot of average players. And while it may be a horrible long-term strategy, it makes them a lock to get to the playoffs in the East. And they may win more games than people expect, but don’t be fooled, this offseason was an awful one for Pat Riley.

#7: Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte was a prime candidate to be a surprise team before Nicolas Batum went down for 2–3 months with an elbow injury. His impact is much greater than just his skill level- he is Charlotte’s only good two-way player. Now the Hornets’ entire projected starting five is made up of players who are liabilities on either offense or defense. With that being said, they still have enough talent to get into the playoffs.

#8: Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers have set themselves up for the brightest future in possibly the entire NBA, but let’s settle down with these expectations right away. Their original win total in Las Vegas being 41.5 was hilarious, and while it has since dropped by three to 38.5, people are still putting way too much pressure on this team. After all, their chances of succeeding are almost entirely reliant on Joel Embiid’s health- which as we have seen, is not particularly trustworhy. However, this team has so much youth and so much talent- and excellent coaching from Brett Brown. They might not exceed the lofty expectations that some have unfairly placed on them, but they will accomplish their own single goal: playoffs.

Western Conference Playoff Teams

#1: Golden State Warriors

Amid all of the noise and player movement last summer, the Warriors are still the best team in the NBA, and it isn’t particularly close. They have it all- defense, rebounding, athleticism, scoring, and of course, shooting. They didn’t have any weaknesses last year, and have actually improved thanks to the additions of Omri Casspi, Jordan Bell, and Nick Young. Don’t be surprised when they once again roll through the Western Conference en route to the top seed.

#2: Houston Rockets

Daryl Morey has done an unbelievable job this summer- while many are skeptical of whether the new backcourt duo of James Harden and Chris Paul can play together, it’s a necessary gamble. Nobody has a realistic chance of beating the Warriors this season, but the Rockets are far and away the most equipped team in basketball to challenge them.

#3: San Antonio Spurs

This offseason was horrible for the Spurs. They have no solid rim protection or defense inside, and nobody to create plays by themselves aside from Kawhi Leonard. They don’t have a many strengths and have quite a few significant weaknesses. But they are the San Antonio Spurs, so they will somehow win more than 50 games.

#4: Denver Nuggets

The most slept on team in the entire NBA, the Nuggets are primed for a 50-win season, with young phenom Nikola Jokic leading the charge. And with Paul Millsap now next to him, he has the perfect frontcourt mate. Those two stars surrounded by a slew of solid perimeter players make for a recipe for success.

#5: Oklahoma City Thunder

Sam Presti had one of the most masterful offseasons to date, turning Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott into Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. But let’s all pump the brakes here- they may look great on paper, but there are a few questions that need to be answered with this team.

A) Who is going to produce for this team off of the bench? They’ll have one of Andre Roberson or Patrick Patterson coming off of the bench, but who else can step up? Jerami Grant? Raymond Felton? Alex Abrines?

B) Westbrook went into an all-time high ball-hogging mode last season, holding the ball at all times like nobody had ever done before. How is he going to coexist with his two new co-stars? Will he get them the ball enough, or will he fail to avoid selfishness?

#6: Minnesota Timberwolves

This roster is constructed about as poorly as one with Jimmy Butler, Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins could possibly be. They surrounded the three with Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson in Free Agency, which worsens their already-suspect shooting ability, and doesn’t help them very much defensively. This team has one great defender, no great shooters, and no reliable playmakers off the bench. Factoring in the fact that there was a plethora of better-fitting players they could have signed- George Hill or Patrick Patterson, for example- Tom Thibodeau deserves plenty of blame for how poorly this team fits together.

#7: Utah Jazz

The Jazz may have lost their primary creator in Gordon Hayward, but do not fear: Utah will comfortably make the playoffs this season, with their best player in Rudy Gobert leading them there. His unbelievably good rim protection and rebounding with a slew of underrated perimeter players surrounding him is a formula that will lead to a playoff appearance.

#8: Los Angeles Clippers

The difference between LA’s floor and ceiling may be greater than that of any other team. Blake Griffin could return to superstar form and lead them to well over 50 wins, but the new group of players could also fail to figure out how to play together and they could miss the playoffs. They’ll fall somewhere in the middle of that, though- while their roster definitely doesn’t fit perfectly, they have too much talent on it to miss out on the playoffs.

Eastern Conference Finals

While the Wizards and Raptors both have a decent chance of getting to the Conference Finals, there are two teams in the East who are clearly superior: Cleveland and Boston. It all makes sense: Kyrie vs. LeBron, Isaiah vs. his old teammates, and Kyrie vs. his old teammates, all for a chance to get killed by the Golden State Warriors. For the first time in LeBron’s second tenure with the Cavaliers, Cleveland truly doesn’t have the best team in the East- Boston does. With that being said, the Cavs have something the Celtics will never have, something that will singlehandedly give them another NBA Finals berth: LeBron James.

The Pick: Cavaliers over Celtics

Western Conference Finals

In these last two seasons where the narrative has been about who can catch the Warriors, this summer’s offseason for the Houston Rockets made them the biggest Western Conference threat Golden State has seen since they brought in Kevin Durant. They still could very well not even come close to the Warriors, but they have the defense, shooting, and versatility to compete with them for 48 minutes in every game. However, the Warriors are too good. They have no weaknesses, and will once again roll into the Finals.

The Pick: Warriors over Rockets

NBA Finals

The Warriors are going to manhandle Cleveland. This one shouldn’t be a shocker. The Warriors steamrolled past them last year and improved their roster, while Cleveland got worse. As Kevin Durant inches closer to closing what seemed like a permanent gap between himself and LeBron James, his significantly better supporting cast makes the Warriors nearly unbeatable. All Durant has to do is not get significantly outplayed by James and this is an easy series win for the Warriors.

The Pick: Warriors over Cavaliers